


Keeping It Real

by ByTheAngell (SomeLittleInfamy)



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: M/M, Teacher Alec Lightwood, Teacher Magnus Bane, fake dating with very little angst I swear!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-17
Updated: 2019-01-17
Packaged: 2019-10-11 11:22:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17446001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SomeLittleInfamy/pseuds/ByTheAngell
Summary: Mr. Bane constantly makes heart eyes at Mr. Lightwood, and all their students want them to be A Thing. Alec, however, seems mostly oblivious. When Magnus tries to help Alec out of a sticky situation, he ends up with a little more than he bargained for.





	Keeping It Real

**Author's Note:**

  * For [alistoney](https://archiveofourown.org/users/alistoney/gifts).



Everybody knew that Magnus Bane liked Alexander Lightwood… everyone, that was, except Alexander Lightwood. 

Mr. Bane, the World History teacher and girls soccer coach at Alicante High, and Mr. Lightwood, the Literature and Composition teacher, got along like lifelong best friends, despite the fact that they only met at the start of this year when Mr. Lightwood moved to town.  It was painfully obvious the way Magnus’ eyes lit up the moment Alec walked into the room that he thought the world of his colleague. He jumped through hoops to volunteer for the same events that Alec did, the highlight of which was the Fall Ball they both found themselves chaperoning just a few weeks back. Magnus grabbed Alec by the hand and spun him around, eliciting a surprised laugh from the usually stony-faced English teacher.  

Alec, for his part, remained hopelessly oblivious. The few students who saw the moment, however, were sold. 

“They have to be dating,” Simon said the next morning, huddled at Clary’s locker with her and her boyfriend, Jace. “They have to  _ like  _ each other, at the very least. There’s no way Mr. Lightwood doesn’t - I haven’t seen anyone else who can make him crack a smile when he’s in ‘I’m A Very Serious Teacher’ mode.” 

“I don’t know,” Clary shrugged. “He’s a little scary. Do you really think he and Mr. Bane would get along outside of school?”

“Someone’s gotta get him to lighten up,” Simon pointed out, watching Mr. Lightwood poke his head out of the door to yell at a kid for wearing a hat indoors. 

“I’m with you on that one,” Jace agreed without hesitation, fumbling the baseball cap off of his own head and into his backpack before Mr. Lightwood saw. 

\---

Everyone knew that Magnus was hopelessly pining after Alec, and so when Magnus won the honor of being the teacher in charge of the class trip to Spain, a trip that Lorenzo Rey was gunning for the entire year prior, he knew exactly how to get under Magnus’ skin as payback. 

After school that day in the teacher’s lounge, while Magnus was very loudly discussing all of the plans he already had in mind for the trip with no shortage of smug looks in Lorenzo’s direction, Lorenzo made his way over to where Alec stood in the corner. He was observing from the outside the way he usually did in larger groups like this. It’d been a couple of months now, but Alec was still the new guy here, and it showed from time to time. 

“Alexander,” he said, and though Alec loved his full name when he heard it lilting off of Magnus’ gentle tongue, it somehow felt wrong to hear coming from Lorenzo. “How  _ have _ you been?” 

Alec, surprised at the sudden attention while all of the other eyes were on Magnus, offered a half-smile. “Not too bad,” he said. “How about you?” 

“Only ‘not too bad’? Well, we’ll have to do something to change that, now won’t we.” Lorenzo smirked a bit, leaning in so that he was unapologetically in Alec’s personal space. “What do you say to dinner? I know a lovely Italian restaurant in the city, you normally need a reservation, but fortunately I know the owner and…” 

Alec realized what was happening too late to avoid it - but Magnus noticed, too. Magnus knew it wasn’t fair of him to feel a flare of jealousy over Lorenzo hitting on Alec, or the surprising amount of anger he felt when Alec smiled back nervously, but he felt it all the same. Magnus was  _ positive _ Lorenzo didn’t give a damn about Alec, and if Lorenzo thought for one second he was about to use  Alec like that then he had another thing coming. 

Magnus had no idea what his plan was when he broke away from the small group he was talking with to make his way across the room towards Alec and Lorenzo, but stopped short when he heard Alec speak again. 

“Sorry, Lorenzo, I’d love to but I’ve already got a date tonight.” 

“Oh?” Lorenzo pried, clearly not buying it. “With whom?” 

_ Oh. _ Magnus frowned, turning to leave the room. He suddenly didn’t want to be here anymore. It was bad enough that Alec had a date with someone else, but the fact that he hadn’t even bothered to tell him--

“--with Magnus.” Alec’s voice was raised just enough for Magnus to hear him, and Magnus caught the hint of panicked undertone. Luckily, Lorenzo spun to face Magnus just as Magnus turned back towards the two of them, so the other man missed the pleading look in Alec’s eyes that silently begged Magnus to go along with it. 

Magnus had absolutely no problem with that. 

“What, you didn’t think I forgot about tonight, did you?” Magnus asked without missing a beat, seamlessly making his way over to Alec’s side. Magnus tried to ignore the race of his pulse as he slid an arm around Alec’s waist, just as Alec tried desperately to fight the flush that rose high on his cheeks. 

“I see.” Lorenzo turned and left with a huff, and Alec took a quick step away from Magnus (who wanted nothing more than to reach back out and pull him back). 

“Oh my god, Magnus, I’m so sorry. I panicked, and you were right there… I should've made up another name I don’t know why I dragged you into this--” Alec started, but Magnus cut him off with an insistent shake of his head. 

“Don’t worry about it. Although, just to keep up appearances, I believe you owe me a date tonight.” The words slipped out before he could stop them, his usual playful banter on the surface, though Magnus knew he was playing a dangerous game of wanting more. He swore it was just this once, just to see. Even if it wasn’t real. 

“I owe you big time for playing along with that,” Alec agreed much easier than Magnus anticipated. “How about dinner, at that new Chinese place that just opened up? Luke tells me it’s amazing.” 

“Sounds perfect.” He caught Lorenzo still eyeing them from just close enough to hear Magnus raise his voice to reply. “You can pick me up at 7, darling.” 

“It’s a date.” 

\--

Alec wished it was a real date. He knew this was just him paying Magnus back for helping him out earlier, but that wasn’t enough to stop him from spending every second of the evening imagining it was real. Every time Magnus laughed he got a little more lost in the sound, allowing his voice to drown out the chatter around them. It didn’t help that Magnus looked  _ amazing,  _ too. Not that Magnus didn’t constantly look flawless, because he did, but it was obvious he put in a little extra effort to get ready for this dinner, wearing a dark blue blazer that was one of Alec’s favorites. 

It was enough to make Alec lose his breath every time he looked across the table. 

They talked and laughed and drank a little, and by the end of the night Alec felt like he was walking home on a cloud. Magnus even went so far as to walk him home, even though it wasn’t very far from the restaurant. 

“I had a really good time,” Alec admitted. 

They paused outside the door. For a split second there was an almost electric tension between them. For a moment Alec debated giving in to the impulsive desire to lean in and kiss Magnus goodnight. He thought he saw Magnus’ eyes drop down to his lips, he thought maybe it wasn’t just him, but then Magnus turned away just as quickly and the moment was gone.  

“Me too, Alexander. Have a good night.” He was already motioning for a cab. 

Alec tried not to look too disappointed. It wasn’t like this was a real date; it wasn’t like he imagined someone like Magnus Bane could ever actually  _ like _ him like that. He was just being nice, because Alec put him in an awkward position. That’s all. 

“Yeah, you too.” 

\---

“ _ I saw them at dinner together,”  _ Simon practically hissed, coming up behind Clary in the cafeteria the next day. 

“What? Who? Stop hovering and sit down - you didn’t have too much coffee again this morning, did you?” Clary demanded, eyeing her best friend and judging his strange behaviour. 

“No, I didn’t.” Simon pouted, but he sat down just the same. “Also - Mr. Bane and Mr. Lightwood! I was out with my parents for dinner and they were  _ there _ .  _ Together _ .” 

“Maybe they were just getting dinner. They are friends, I think.” 

“No, this was different. You had to see it, but… they were  _ definitely _ into each other.” 

At that moment, Mr. Bane and Mr. Lightwood both came into the cafeteria from different directions, meeting up near the middle to grab lunch together like they always did. 

“They’re not acting any different,” Clary observed. “...then again, I guess they always did act a little in love.” 

“Who’s in love?” Maia asked, coming up beside Simon. 

“Mr. Bane and Mr. Lightwood,” Simon said definitively. 

“Oh, totally. I wish they’d just hook up already so Coach Bane could focus during soccer practice instead of just staring at Mr. Lightwood while he runs laps after school.” Maia rolled her eyes. 

“Do you think Mr. Lightwood does that on purpose?” Simon questioned, squinting in their direction as they take their food out of the cafeteria and back to the teacher’s lounge. 

“He almost has to. There’s no way he doesn’t  _ know _ .” 

\---

_ ‘He has to be doing this on purpose.’ _ Magnus thought to himself, as he did every single day he held soccer practice on the field after school while Alec ran laps (shirtless, both a blessing and a curse) on the track that surrounded the grass. ‘ _ There’s no way he doesn’t know what this does to-- _ ’

“Heads up, Coach!” Maia shouted, giving him just enough time to duck as a ball came soaring towards his face. 

“Sorry,” Maia said, but the knowing smirk on her face told him she wasn’t entirely sorry. 

It also told him that perhaps he’d been caught staring. Again. 

Magnus did his best to focus the rest of the hour before the kids took their things back up to the locker rooms and Alec jogged over to him. 

“Hey, Magnus.” 

Magnus caught the anxious look on Alec’s face almost immediately. “What’s up?” 

“So… Lorenzo asked me what I was doing again tomorrow night.” 

“Oh?” Magnus asked, aiming for nonchalant but falling somewhere in the realm of ‘definitely more can casually interested’ instead. 

“I, uh, might have told him we had plans again.” Alec looked over at him with a half-smile, half wince. “But if you’re busy, or you don’t want to--” 

“Nonsense, Alexander. I actually had a lot of fun yesterday.” 

Alec relaxed. “Yeah?” 

Magnus nodded. “Of course. In fact, I have just the thing. I’ll pick you up at 6.” 

“Where are we going?” 

Magnus shook his head, smiling. “It’s a surprise. Dress warm.”

\---

If there was anywhere Alec expected Magnus to take him, the Drive-In Theater on the outskirts of the city certainly wasn’t it. 

“You own a pick-up truck?” Alec questioned, eyeing the vehicle Magnus picked him up in.

“Absolutely not,” Magnus sounded offended that Alec even considered the option. “I borrowed it from a friend.” 

There were blankets and pillows in the bed of the truck, and the two of them propped themselves up against the cab with their popcorn, drinks, and a few other snacks Magnus grabbed from home for variety. Alec told himself it was no different than showing up to a friend’s house to watch tv…  but something felt different. 

Maybe it was the fact that this was supposed to be a bit of a show, the two of them ‘dating’. They could’ve easily just said they were going out and not seen one another at all, just for the sake of telling Lorenzo they had. But instead, Magnus went very out of his way to arrange a trip to the drive-in, to watch a movie Alec mentioned wanting to see so offhandedly the other week he almost forgot about it himself. 

But Magnus remembered. 

And now Magnus’ shoulder brushed against his, their bodies leaning towards one another under the shared blanket. Definitely for body heat in the cool night air, and not for any other reason. Not at all. 

Alec thought Magnus was intentionally making a move when he felt ringed fingers lace through his own underneath the blanket and was more than happy to leave them there. In fact, he was relieved to know that it wasn't just him feeling this way… that was, until Magnus seemed to realized what he was doing a few minutes later and pulled his hand back like Alec burned to the touch. Then, just as quickly as the hand was gone, so was any chance of an accidental graze of contact when Magnus shifted himself over as far as he could while remaining under the blanket. 

And when Magnus barely made eye contact with him for the rest of the night, Alec realized what a mistake this whole thing might’ve been. 

\---

“Coach Bane isn’t in today,” Maia observed, leaning over to whisper to Clary during second period. 

“I know, Mr. Lightwood kept checking his phone every 5 seconds during class first period. I hope nothing’s wrong…” 

Something was definitely wrong. The students noticed it the next day when Mr. Bane was back at school but seemed to be avoiding Mr. Lightwood at all costs. He didn’t even get lunch in the cafeteria. And after school, Alec didn’t come to run laps while the soccer team had practice, which was somehow even  _ more _ distracting for Coach Bane who checked the surroundings not-so-subtly every few minutes, just in case. 

“Do you think they broke up?” Simon asked after meeting up with Maia to walk home after her practice. 

“We don’t even know if they were actually dating, Si. But they’re definitely not talking. I wonder what happened.” 

Simon, to her surprise, started to smile. “Don’t worry, I have a plan.” 

\--- 

Magnus woke up the next morning with one goal: to tell Alexander how he felt. He had to. It might be enough for Alec to keep pretending, but he couldn’t do it anymore. Each time they went out Magnus fell for him a little more - if that was even possible given the extent of his crush before they started playing this little game of theirs. 

But now? Now it was too much. He couldn’t keep pretending, not with slip-ups like the other night, holding Alec’s hand for  _ God knows how long _ before he even realized… no, he had to come clean. Maybe if he was honest before things got too far he could still salvage what friendship with Alec he had left.  

Magnus didn’t bother to knock on the door to Alec’s classroom since it was already cracked open when he got there. He certainly wasn’t expecting to see Alec sitting there with a vase of roses at his desk, smiling fondly down at the card in his hand. 

Roses that Magnus didn’t send, which meant that someone else was sending Alexander Lightwood flowers at school. The look soft, pure joy written all over Alec’s face told Magnus that whoever they were from, it wasn’t unwelcome.  

“...I don’t suppose those are from Lorenzo, are they?” Magnus asked hopefully, just in case, but he felt his stomach sink with dread before Alec even answered. 

“What? No.” 

Magnus gave a heavy sigh. “Well, I guess it had to end sometime, didn’t it?”

Alec looked confused.  “What are you talking about?” 

“This. Us. Well, fake-us. I can’t be keeping you from real dates with whoever put that dopey grin on your face, now can I?” Clearly, Alec had someone special in his life. Someone who wasn’t him.  “I just thought...” Magnus started, wondering if he should tell him anyway, before thinking better of it. “...nevermind.” 

Magnus turned to leave, but stopped at the sound of Alec’s voice. 

“Wait, so these aren’t from you?” 

“No?” Now it was Magnus’ turn to look confused.  

“Oh.” Alec’s face dropped. Disappointment wasn’t a strong enough word for what registered there in place of the smile Magnus saw there a moment before: Alec looked crushed. “I mean, there’s no name on them. I shouldn’t have assumed-”  

Before Alec could say anything more there was the sound of someone bumping against the door, the sight of Simon Lewis’ head ducking out from the small rectangular window, and the tell-tale whispers and stomping feet of several students taking off down the hallway. 

“It seems we were set up,” Alec said, walking over to hand the small card that came with the flowers to Magnus. 

_ ‘My day isn’t the same without you in it.’ _

“I think they noticed you were avoiding me,” Alec said, giving a pointed look in Magnus’ direction. 

Magnus winced. 

“Look, you don’t have to keep pretending to like me, Magnus. I get it.” 

“I don’t think you do,” Magnus blurted out before he could stop himself. Part of him wanted to walk away without saying another word. Alec never had to know. They could keep being friends. But he couldn’t ignore the fact that the hopeful look on Alec’s face when he walked in was because he thought Magnus sent him that note. And if Alec hoped he wanted him in his life… maybe everything else wasn’t just in his head, too. 

He took a deep breath and continued before he could talk himself out of it. “I was never pretending. I need to stop because I can’t keep pretending I don’t actually care, when I do. And I can’t keep doing this knowing it doesn’t mean the same for you as it does for me. I thought I could, but… I can’t. I’m sorry.” 

“...can I make a confession?” 

The question caught Magnus by surprise. He nodded. 

“Lorenzo never asked me out a second time.” Alec’s lips twitched up into a guilty smile. “I just wanted an excuse to go out with you again.”

Their eyes met, each searching the other for any sign they might be lying. But all they found was a spark, a light they saved just for each other, except now they could recognize it for what it was. And this time when Magnus’ eyes flickered down to Alec’s lips, Alec wasted no time leaning in to close the gap between them. 

It was a slow, simple kiss, but they were both pleasantly surprised at how  _ right _ it felt. They only broke apart when the sound of approaching voices in the hallway grew louder as students started to grab books from their lockers and head to class. 

“Now what?”

“Now, Alexander, I believe we have a third date to plan.” 

**Author's Note:**

> (Find me on [Tumblr! ](http://bytheangell.tumblr.com))


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